Thanksgiving Bento Recipe

2020 has been crazy for many people including us at Japanese Cooking 101.  Who knew that a once-in-a-century kind of pandemic would swirl our lives into chaos this year?  With two of us from different households working together to make our videos, we have taken some time off since the lock downs in the end of March in California. Our decision was simply to keep our immediate and extended family members and people surrounding us safe.  We have been carefully watching numbers and the medical situation in California, and finally have decided to ease back into a modified version of our normal schedule of video makings.  If you are regular visitors to our website and YouTube subscribers, thank you for your patience waiting so long.  We are confident we can work together again safely in the well-ventilated kitchen with good precautions such as keeping social distances, wearing masks, and following good hygiene practices.

Unfortunately our country the United States of America as a whole is not doing well still after 8 months into this.  We will make it through eventually, but time and seasons move on.  And whether you like or not, or even remember or not, the holiday season is coming.  It’s November already, and now Thanksgiving day is right at the door.  We know we have an urge to get together and celebrate one of the biggest holidays of a year with families and friends, just like last year; however, it is better to alter a little this year for the safety of everyone.

So, we made a Thanksgiving Bento here, a boxed holiday meal for all of you to enjoy.  Instead of sitting around a table and passing around food, we can have meals already in individualized bento boxes to avoid sharing food from big plates.  If you are lucky to live in an area warm enough to be out in the yard, have the Bento for a Thanksgiving lunch or early dinner outdoors.  If you worry about older family members and can’t get together to eat and talk, you can deliver the prepared meal to them so you can still taste the same food over video calls.  Compromises, but we can still share and enjoy each other’s company at a distance.

In our menu is Roast Turkey Breast with Cranberry Soy Glaze, and it is very easy and quick to make compared to roasting the whole bird.  Baking time is only 40 minutes!  Sweet and salty Cranberry Soy Glaze is similar to Teriyaki sauce with a twist, and it goes very well with moist turkey breast. Instead of an American yam dish, we made Japanese candied sweet potato, Daigaku Imo.  It’s so sweet and hearty, everyone will love it for sure.  For some starch, we cooked Mame Gohan, steamed rice with green peas, but any other starch such as mashed potato or stuffing will work too.

Whatever our situations are, we can still make it work to have some festivity this year too (even if it’s on a smaller scale), as long as we are healthy.  We sincerely hope all of you will be safe and eat well.  Let’s have a truly thankful Thanksgiving together in our hearts and spirit!